


What's This Guy Doing Here, Anyway?

by sneep



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Illustrated, excessive use of headcanons about the monado, it's pretty much just mythra and shulk everyone else is just background, lategame spoilers for both games, okay I guess klaus factors in heavily, overexplanation of DLC, shulk has PTSD, shulk/fiora DLC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 03:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16905048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sneep/pseuds/sneep
Summary: Mythra just can't stow her suspicions about the group's newest member.





	What's This Guy Doing Here, Anyway?

From the beginning, Mythra knew there was something strange about Shulk.

It was more than the already incredible weirdness that was the portal, and the tales of another universe (so different and yet so similar), and the strange weapon he carried. Though that was part of it.

When it had flashed into his hands in a burst of ether— _“The Monado?”_ came the half-whispered words—he had flung the thing away from himself, his face contorting into something between panic and fear. Prodded about it, he avoided the subject, and everyone learned quickly that asking wouldn’t accomplish anything useful.

Even after that initial moment of panic, when everyone had gotten over the fact that _holy shit two people had just stumbled in from another world_ , Shulk had treated the “Monado” with a kind of poorly concealed nervousness that made Mythra squint at him behind his back. She was peeved she couldn’t eavesdrop on any of his and Fiora’s tightly whispered conversations. Before long, she regarded the “Monado” with unconcealed suspicion herself.

It didn’t help that she could _feel_ it. The way it manipulated the ether, pulling and stretching it around Shulk with a kind of ease she herself wasn’t sure she could manage. The immense power that radiated from it upon its activation. The other Blades knew it was powerful, certainly. But being an Aegis granted a different level of sensitivity. A kind of _intuition_ she couldn’t explain.

And that was the other part of it.

She knew that Shulk was, in some way, somehow… like her.

Of course, he had not confessed to being anything other than human. He had no core crystal, didn’t seem to have any innate ability to sense ether. He prodded Tora for endless details on how Poppi worked—but that seemed to only be a technical interest. There wasn’t any hidden agenda behind it. He was kind, curious, openhearted, and just a little dense. And cute (but not as cute as Fiora).

But she could sense it. A kind of prickle in her awareness when he walked by. A kind of _demand_ that she sit up and pay attention to him. When he held the Monado, a familiarity on the edge of her memory.

It was annoying as hell. She wanted to punch a wall out of frustration every time she thought about it. Considering what had happened last time, that was a bad idea, but still. She settled for contorting her face into her best frown (she was quite proud of it).

She chewed a nail, frowning intently to herself as she watched him nervously coach Zeke through using the Monado. Or, more like, try to convince Zeke to drop the thing while the “Prince” ( _hah, yeah right. Prince my ass_ ) swung it around with a kind of burning zeal.

Nothing was happening, of course. It fizzled fussily, and Shulk’s sweat would probably be all the way through his sweater by this point, but it stubbornly stayed a big hunk of metal and glass.

“Ha- _HA!_ ” Zeke yelled, and swung it to the sky—”would you please stop that”, Shulk begged—and it flew out of Zeke’s grip and right toward Mythra.

“Oh, shit—” the thing made a sweeping arc in the air, falling toward her like Fate itself.

  


 

It slammed into her arms awkwardly and she fumbled for a few seconds before getting a grip on it. Zeke had never looked more sheepish in his life (which Mythra very much enjoyed)—

She sucked in a breath.

It was faint, tenuous. But _there_ . A connection, reaching through the ether, toward Shulk. And another… to Fiora. And— there were more. It was too fuzzy, uncountable. Maybe five or six. Her awareness spun as she felt the ether in her body reacting to the thing, being drawn _in_ —

She dropped it immediately.

It clattered innocently to the ground; that _familiarity_ lingered, even stronger. It was on the tip of her tongue—that power, so part of herself she couldn’t name it. What was it?!

“Damnit!” She cursed.

Shulk and Zeke were staring. Shulk’s eyes were as large as dinner plates.

“Um… sorry.” She tried to act coolly. Probably failed. “My mistake.”

“Did you feel something?” the words ran out of Shulk’s mouth.

“I’m sorry… what?”

“Did you _feel_ something.” Panic was rising on his face. He raced to Mythra and grabbed her shoulders. “Did you?!”

Well this was weird as hell. She was used to it from _Rex_ , but—

“Maybe I did. What does it matter?” the words were out of her mouth lightning-quick. _Oh, smooth move Mythra. That’s not suspicious at all._ She could feel Pyra chuckling despite herself, in that quiet corner of her mind. _Oh cut it out, you. Now’s not the time._

“It—” Shulk seemed to gain some sense of awareness, and pulled back. “Er, sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“Don’t worry about it.” _Play it cool, Mythra!_ She picked up the Monado nonchalantly, handing it to him. That feeling hit her again like a razor edge. Grinding her teeth, she grinned.

Zeke strutted over, slinging his arms over their shoulders. “Hey, no harm done, right? The Zekeinator would _never_ do anything to harm your precious weapon! Now, gimme another go?”

Shulk looked pleadingly into Mythra’s eyes.

_Sorry buddy. Not even the mighty Aegis can save you from this one._

 

* * *

 

 

Morytha was a hellhole. The Father-damned place was as damp and uncomfortable as it was unsettling. And it was _very_ unsettling.

Shulk gripped the keycard they had just found tightly, staring with an intensity not even Pyra’s fire could match. No one said a word. Except Rex, thick as he was.

“Something wrong, Shulk?”

Shulk seemed to shake himself out of it, and smiled at Rex. “No, nothing. It was just me.”

Rex thought the keycard could open a nearby door; he was right. Mythra stole a look at the thing as Shulk pocketed it.

A battered picture of a woman with silver hair was in the corner. She couldn’t discern much else. It was a miracle it hadn’t somehow disintegrated in the millenia it had sat down here; but something about this place seemed to mummify the things in it. A layer of dust and moisture coated everything, but there wasn’t a speck of mold or rot to be seen.

Yeah. Unsettling.

She was thankful when they finally got to climbing the World Tree.

 

* * *

 

 

“So, who’s this Architect?” Shulk asked awkwardly as they took a rest in a drafty corridor.

Fiora and Pandoria were chatting animatedly about something, giggling to themselves. Zeke was flat asleep, snoring away even though his bed was the solid metal floor; Nia, Dromarch, Morag, and Brighid had volunteered for dinner duty; Tora was tuning up Poppi; and Pyra was taking a well-deserved rest inside Mythra’s head.

Soooo, that only left her to answer. Fan-fucking-tastic. That was one hell of a loaded question.

“God,” she said bluntly, hoping that would settle it.

Shulk’s face went pale.

_Oh, boy. Not this again,_ she groaned internally. She’d been able to ignore Shulk’s… inclement weirdness in the life-or-death situation they were all in.

“What… kind of god?”

_What kind? What KIND? What fucking sort of a question was that?!_

“I dunno. No one knows. He created this world, and Malos and I. That’s about it.” She had a vague sense of what Father was like. Very old. Very powerful. Blonde. That was all she got. She could only guess what he’d intended for the two Aegises; she firmly believed Malos was wrong about it, but hoped no one would ask her what she thought. Because she honestly had no idea.

Not that it mattered. Rex was going to drag her all the way to Elysium regardless. She smiled in spite of herself. He was a good kid.

Shulk was silent for a long minute.

“I hope he’s the good kind. For all of your sake.”

Her eyebrows must have gone through the roof. What did that mean? Was he actually… kind of opening up about whatever his weird personal baggage was?

“I hope so too. Otherwise _Malos_ is going to be right.” She snorted.

“I’m surprised you can joke about it. I mean, we’re fighting for our lives here.” There was a smile on his face too, though. That was funny.

“That’s just about the best you can do, when you’re surrounded by world-ending conflict. I’d have gone insane _long_ ago if not for a little well-placed humor.” Mythra batted away thoughts of the Aegis war. No use getting into _that_ baggage now.

Shulk chuckled. “You know, a friend of mine said the same kind of stuff when we were in… a similar situation. He’d always go off joking around when things got rough. Always knew the right time to crack one. If you met him, you’d probably think he’s a bit of a dunce—most people do—but he’s smarter than anyone gives him credit for. He’s certainly better with people than me, in his own way.”

“Sounds like a good friend.” Reminded her of Zeke and Rex. Idiots, the both of them, but they always seemed to say the right thing at the right time. She bit back any biting remarks.

“Yeah, he really is. I’d be dead without him.” He looked at the floor. “And the rest of them. I miss them a lot.”

“Hey, it was _your_ choice to stay with us,” She teased. “The portal was right there.”

“I couldn’t just leave you all alone. I wanted to help.”

“We’re hardly _alone_.” She gestured around the group.

“Sure, but… I’ve learned that helping when you can is the best thing you can do. It’ll even—save the world.” He was smiling to himself in a faraway way. “People do best when everyone works together.”

“Well that’s corny as hell.” But she found herself smiling too. “But, it certainly seems to be working for us.”

Maybe he was right.

Weirdness aside… Shulk was a good kid, too.

 

* * *

 

 

Mythra ruminated on this new information when she had time to think about it. Which was almost never. It was dealing with Torna, then dealing with Amalthus, then racing after Malos to Elysium and hoping to Father they weren’t too late…

_Shulk held the Monado in both of his hands, shaking with fear. His body glowed with an unnatural golden light._

_“Rex, I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry Rex, please, run away, get away as fast as you can!”_

_“Shulk, what’s wrong? What’s happening?”_

_“Please… I can’t stop it. I can’t stop him!” Tears sopped down his cheeks, his face a hideous sobbing mask._

_“Let me help you!” Rex begged._

_Shulk screamed._

When they snapped back to Father’s room, Shulk was on his knees sobbing, the Monado across the room. He rocked back and forth, his eyes shut tight. Fiora ran to him immediately.

And yet, Father did not react. He simply explained.

_“I wished to examine the shape of your hearts.”_

_“Those were the fears you harbor.”_

_“I will show you everything. Memories… Mine, and those of this planet”_

And then Mythra forgot everything except for what Father told them.

At the end, Father turned to Shulk, who stood with an expression as stoic as he could make with tears still in his eyes.

“And Fiora, Shulk…I admit I brought you here, back through space and time, for a rather selfish reason.” He seemed to draw himself up, taking a deep breath.

“To apologize.”

Shulk looked down at the floor—and smiled, wiping his eyes. “I…”

“You are not obligated to accept. You’ve gone through enough.”

Fiora shook her head vehemently.

“Klaus, you have _enough_ guilt without accepting responsibility for… Your other half’s actions!” Her voice was heated.

Mythra—Pneuma—started. _So…_

“Fiora’s right,” Shulk said quietly. He raised his head, looking firmly into Klaus’s eyes. “It’s alright.”

The Architect of Elysium, the most powerful being in Alrest, creator of the Titans and destroyer of Earth, looked deep into Shulk and Fiora’s eyes.

And wept.

 

* * *

 

 

“So, this Monado…” Shulk said.

“Yes. It’s… a projection, maybe. Reconstructed from your hearts and mine. I gave it to you so you would have a way to defend yourself here.” Father scratched his chin. “It is, in a way, the genuine article… but also not.”

“I see,” Shulk said. He looked at Fiora. She nodded.

He took a deep breath, and walked across the room. There was only confidence in his eyes as he picked it up, turning it over in his hands. And a little sadness.

He closed his eyes, holding it in front of him. And reality _shifted_.

When the light faded, he held a beautiful filgreed sword, glowing with soft blue light.  Mythra-Pneuma felt it even stronger now; that power, that radiation, that _familiarity_. And now, it father-damned made _sense_ (mostly, at least).

  


 

Shulk walked to Rex, and bowed formally.

“If you’ll have us. We would be honored to help you save the world. You could say we have some experience.”

Fiora spun her knives in her hands, and they shifted into pink, power emerging in waves. She smiled to herself, a little sadly.

Rex was of course confused as all get out. Pneuma would have to spell it out for him later. If there _was_ a later.

“Well… I don’t see why not? I’m confused as to why you’re askin’, actually…”

“We’ll explain when this is all over,” Fiora volunteered.

For a moment, the four of them stood there regarding each other. Then Nia coughed.

“I _love_ this… whatever you have going on here, but Alrest is actively being destroyed right now—”

A chorus of “sorry, sorry”, and then they were all off.

Klaus smiled to himself. He watched Shulk and Fiora walk towards him in that other life, determination in their eyes.

_For all that’s happened… I’m glad to have met all of you._

Mythra decided they had no excuses anymore, and that she was going to grill the _hell_ out of them the first chance she got.

 

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a hot minute since I've written anything, eh?
> 
> I'm testing out fic illustrations. It's something I've always wanted to try doing since ao3 allows it. If you want to, let me know if you think it works, or if it's tacky.


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